Giulia Grisi

Giulia Grisi (22 May 1811 – 29 November 1869) was an Italian opera singer who toured widely across Europe, the United States, and South America, ranking among the foremost sopranos of the 1800s. She later married Giovanni Matteo de Candia, known onstage as "Mario the Tenor," who came from a noble family in the Kingdom of Sardinia. She is interred at Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, where her headstone reads "Juliette de Candia," using her married name; she is often referred to by the courtesy title Marquesse of Candia.

Born in Milan, Grisi was the daughter of Giovanna (née Grassini) and Gaetano Grisi, an officer in Napoleon’s Italian forces. Her family was musically gifted: her maternal aunt Giuseppina Grassini was a celebrated opera singer in both continental Europe and London, while her older sister Giuditta and cousin Carlotta also performed—Giuditta as a singer and Carlotta as a ballet dancer. Giuditta originated the trouser role of Romeo in Bellini’s *I Capuleti e i Montecchi*. Grisi was trained for a musical career and made her stage debut in 1828 in Bologna, singing the role of Emma in Rossini’s *Zelmira*.

Both Rossini and Bellini took an interest in her. She was the first to perform the part of Adalgisa in Bellini’s *Norma* in Milan, with dramatic soprano Giuditta Pasta in the title role. In 1832, she appeared in Paris as the title character in Rossini’s *Semiramide* to great acclaim. She debuted in London in 1834 as Ninetta in *La gazza ladra*, and in 1835 she created the role of Elvira in the premiere of Bellini’s final opera, *I puritani*, at the Théâtre-Italien. In 1842, Donizetti wrote the parts of Norina and Ernesto in *Don Pasquale* for Grisi and Giovanni Matteo de Candia (Mario), who would become the love of her life. Her voice was classified as a dramatic soprano, and during her prime, critics praised its exceptional beauty, evenness, and smoothness. Her career spanned thirty years. She was a noted actress, regularly performing in London alongside eminent singers such as Luigi Lablache, Giovanni Battista Rubini, and Antonio Tamburini, as well as her husband Mario. The sharp-tongued critic Henry Chorley commended both her and Mario for helping establish Italian opera as a key part of London’s music scene. In 1854, after their marriage, Giulia and Mario embarked on a profitable tour of the United States, where they were treated as major international celebrities.

In 1836, Grisi married French nobleman Count Gérard de Melcy. The marriage was unhappy, and he refused to grant her a divorce. In 1838, her husband discovered a letter written to her by Frederick Stewart, 4th Marquess of Londonderry (then Lord Castlereagh), and the two men fought a duel on 16 June of that year. Lord Castlereagh was wounded in the wrist; the count was unharmed. After the duel, Grisi left her husband and began an affair with Lord Castlereagh, with whom she had a son, George Frederick Ormsby, born in November 1839 in London. Lord Castlereagh had no legitimate children with his wife, so George Frederick was initially raised by his natural father as a guardian or godfather while Grisi continued her singing career. He was never legally recognized as a Stewart, but his father gave him the Welsh surname Ormsby, meaning "by the willow-tree." After Grisi and Lord Castlereagh’s relationship ended, he continued to support his son by paying for his education at an English boarding school and accompanying him as his uncle to see Grisi whenever she was in London.

While living with Mario before their marriage, Giulia and Mario kept homes in Paris and London. After a difficult legal battle, Grisi obtained a divorce, and in 1844 at Hanover Square in London, she married Mario. From this marriage, the couple adopted her previous son under the name Fredo de Candia for nobiliary inheritance purposes, legalizing the adoption of George Frederick de Candia Ormsby at the Royal Sardinian Consulate in London; he lived between the de Candia and Stewart households. Once married, the couple settled in Fulham, London, and had six daughters: Giulia de Candia (born June 1842, died 22 January 1844 in Paris); Rita de Candia (born 11 March 1849 in Chelsea, London, died after 1886 in Berlin, promised in marriage to the nephew of Sir John Aird Bart); Maria Angelina de Candia (born December 1850 in Chelsea, died 24 December 1853 in Paris); Cecilia Maria de Candia (born 24 December 1853 in Brighton, died 26 May 1926 in Bordighera, Italy, married Godfrey Pearse on 29 February 1872); Clelia de Candia (born 1855 in Fulham, death date unknown, married Arthur Powys-Vaughan in May 1875, with children Ivy Clelia G de Candia Powys-Vaughan and Sir Gwynneth de Candia Powys-Vaughan); and Bella Maria de Candia (born 25 December 1857 in Fulham, died December 1861 in Brighton). They frequently returned to Italy, living seasonally at the Villa Salviati in Florence, which Mario had bought in 1849. Grisi wrote in her diary of exciting times there with distinguished guests from opera and the aristocracy, but she preferred their private family vacations at their cottage in Bordighera, where she felt most at home.

During a trip to Saint Petersburg, Russia, while traveling by train with her family, Grisi was involved in an accident after crossing the border.